WCOOP Event 20: $1050 NLHE

Terrible starting tables have been the theme of my WCOOP thus far. Today was no exception, with no fewer than three successful 5/10+ NL players, soon to be joined by a fourth (in addition to yours truly, so I guess it sucked that much more for the other guys at the table). However, I was lucky to make some big hands and cold deck a few people, including with AA vs KK, so I left the table in great shape.

My second table was much softer. I raised a few pots in a row from late position and people just started playing back at me maniacally. It’s kind of funny to watch tournament players try to deal with aggressive raising by doing stuff like 3-betting light. The thing is, this dynamic has been a part of mid- and high-stakes NL games for nearly a year now, and those of us who play them regularly are quite familiar with not only how to 3-bet light but how to combat those who do.

For a lot of tournament players, though, especially casual ones, it’s more of a revelation. They get that I’m raising a ton of pots and that they should be 3-betting in position, but they’re choosing bad raise sizes and bad hands to do it with and bad spots, etc.

Anyway, I picked up chips at this table from people awkwardly trying to play back at me. My third table quickly pegged me as aggressive again, and one guy in particular on my left made clear that he was going to play back at me. Again, people weren’t doing a great job of it, but now they were getting lucky.

Things started off well. I raised QQ in early position, and someone in middle position made a really tiny re-raise. Even with a hand as strong as QQ, I had a terrible feeling about this. But I also knew I’d been a little aggressive, so I didnt’ want to fold. I elected to call, putting like 8.5K in the pot and leaving around 14K in the effective stacks. I didn’t quite have set odds, but I wanted to see what my opponent did on certain flops.

The flop came 994, which was perfect for my purposes. I checked, and he overbet shoved all in. I didn’t think he’d do that with AA or KK, so I called, he showed me AK, and I dodged the bullets. That hand rocketed me up among the tournament chipleaders. Nearly four hours into the event, I had over 100 BB’s. That was owing in no small part to the amazing structure.

Then I raised A8s in late position and a pretty weak player called in the SB. That would be a strong play from a better player, but against this guy, I was ready to stack off on a 854 flop. He checked and very quickly called my bet. That quick call is rarely a monster, so I was feeling pretty good about my hand. The turn was a deuce. He checked, and with less than twice the pot left in the effective stacks, my only option was to bet-call. So I bet, he shoved, I called, and he showed me A3s that drilled the gutshot on the turn. That took out about 1/3 of my stack.

I rebuilt a bit but mostly was quiet for a while after that. Then I raised 22 from MP and the aforementioned player who was trying to play back at me called. He was actually pretty good, so when the flop came KJ6, I didn’t think it would hit his calling range too well. I bet, and he called. Oh well. I checked, and he checked it back. Then an A came on the river, and I just had to bet at it. He called me with AQ.

I was frustrated to see another guy calling with a gutshot and getting there, but truthfully the flop call wasn’t that bad. I do think he should be betting the turn though if he is going to float the flop.

Anyway, that took about half of my remaining chips. Finally I picked up AK UTG. The SB re-raised, I shoved, and he called me with exactly what I was hoping he had: AQ. I was hoping, that is, until I saw the Q on the flop. That was the end of Ol’ Foucault.

I can’t really complain though, because I made a really sweet run at the cash games while I was playing the tournament. I finished with over 700 BB’s on both a 5/10 and 3/6 table and up on a few other tables as well. So it was a good day, though the tournament was a bit frustrating.